In November, HP took an $8.8bn (£5.4bn) write-down against the $11.1bn it had paid for the British software company it bought from entrepreneur Mike Lynch in 2011.

The shareholder lawsuit names 16 individuals, including Meg Whitman, HP’s current chief executive and her predecessor Leo Apotheker, as well as advisers Barclays Capital and Perella Weinberg Partners.

“HP’s financial advisor, Barclays, was conflicted in advising the board while simultaneously underwriting the financing of the deal,” the lawsuit states. “Compounding the problem, after the acquisition closed, HP’s fiduciaries misrepresented the facts to conceal their own failings,” it added.

HP said that more than $5bn of that write-down related to “accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and misrepresentations”. Such accusations have been strongly denied by Mr Lynch.